The Mission Bay Loop project for the T-Third Muni line will be able to proceed without a fresh environmental report.
The Mission Bay Loop project for the T-Third Muni line will be able to proceed after a judge ruled last December that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency did not have to complete a new environmental report for the project.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced the ruling last month, saying the ruling confirmed The City performed a complete environmental report and that new report was not needed.
Petitioners William Schwartz and Richard Weiner, representing The Committee For Re-Evaluation of the T-Line Loop, said in a lawsuit filed on Sept. 26, 2014, that the project needed a new environmental report assessment because of changes in the neighborhood since the 1999 report.
The project is part of the T-Third line that would provide a turnaround for the T-Third on Illinois Street between 18th and 19th streets. The transit agency said the loop would help to remove disabled trains and to turn trains around for special events and during peak periods of travel between Mission Bay and the Market Street subway.
The transit agency approved a contract for the project with Mitchell Engineering on Sept. 18, 2014. In March 2015, the state court of appeals issued an injunction, which halted construction work of the project pending a resolution.
Schwartz, a Dogpatch resident, has been outspoken about the project. SFBay previously reported on a hearing of the Mission Bay Loop project in 2014 at a Board of Supervisors committee, where Schwartz said the old report did not take into consideration how the neighborhood has changed over the last 15 years.
He also said that area was not an ideal place to put the loop, and suggested in the hearing to move the loop closer to Muni Metro East facility.
But SFMTA Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin said at the time that the project was tied to federal funds, which would not allow the transit agency to change its plans. The SFMTA has $10 million in federal funds for the project and would have to use the funds by Sept. 30, 2018.
The court of appeals dissolved the injunction to temporary stop work on the project last month, said Matt Dorsey, a spokesman for the city attorney.
SFMTA spokesman Paul Rose said the transit agency does plan to still complete the Mission Bay Loop project before the Central Subway opens in 2019. The Central Subway is an extension of the T-Third line to downtown San Francisco and to Chinatown. He did not give a date when construction would potentially start.
Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.
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I hate MUNI. As a resident who recently moved from the east coast to SF, I now claim the right to fuck up the city as much as possible in my own petty little favor. I want to see all MUNI tracks torn up and more car lanes installed. I also don’t want poor kids around me, as they will make the value of my 1.2 million dollar condominium drop to 1.1 million dollars.
Anything to further degrade transit service for SE San Francisco in favor of more intense service for the downtown core where the people count politically.
Not Supporting this Turnaround as the Muni Train Yard is very close by. Plan moving forward and ignoring the voices.
SFMTA Muni Logic….
Oh I wish I was still on the Dogpatch NextDoor. “How can they put a turnaround where there’s a pre-school??!?!?” Question is really: “Why didn’t they know back in 1999 that a building would spring up in 10ish years on that open lot and then someone would ignore the planning and put a pre-school where a turnaround will eventually be?”
with the turnaround there how on earth are the parents going to continue double parking!!?
Touche! I’ve been away long enough to have forgotten about that. “double parking which forces cyclists to cross train tracks to pass them”
I’m sure there is a bike lane nearby they can double park in instead…